Revenge of the Christian License Plates!
After failing to bring the matter up for a vote last year, the Florida legislature is doubling down this year and pushing to get two Christian-centric license plates approved.
No Church-State problems here!
“If you want Jesus on your license plate, the Florida Senate is looking out for you. Because why worry about a budget impasse or property insurance when you can spend more than an hour talking about Jesus, the devil and license plates? Religious specialty plates offered by Sen. Ronda Storms, R-Valrico, and Sen. Gary Siplin, D-Orlando, made it onto a bill Friday even though many members had not seen images of those plates and none was produced for the debate.”
The Jesus plate pictured above is joined by the infamous “I Believe” cross plate that failed to get traction last year (and is currently being litigated in South Carolina). Also, lest you think this plate would open the doors for any number of religious-themed plates, Sen. Larcenia Bullard made clear that gods (and devils) with horns would be right out!
But those options would come too late for Friday’s debate in the Senate, where Sen. Larcenia Bullard, D-Miami, invoked the devil to make her point: “What if someone comes next year and decides to vote on something that has the devil on it, and horns, horns on each side. I know that people are called the devil, but if the symbol of a devil is on it, I would not vote for that.”
Luckily for people who like their spiritual guides to have “horns on each side”, the ACLU and ADL mobilized after the news broke and managed to get a similar-worded proposal removed from House legislation (preventing, I assume, the plates from seeing the light of day). Meanwhile, some Florida senators are trying to solve the issue by pushing for the removal of all specialty plates in exchange for specialty stickers that would serve the same charitable purpose. Such compromise measures most likely won’t please co-sponsor Sen. Gary Siplin (Democrat) who compared putting Jesus on the plate with other states putting animals on theirs.
For his part, Siplin said FAMU has a snake on its plate and the University of Miami has “a duck or something on their license plate so I think we should have an opportunity for every citizen around the state to be able to purchase a license plate of their choice.”
Christianity, it’s a lot like a duck, or something. Good to know that lawmakers in Florida are so untroubled by our nation’s current ills that they can spend time trying to blur the line between church and state. Oh, and thanks to Pax for originally tipping me off to this story.
13 responses so far
[...] an addendum of sorts to my previous post, I thought I’d envision what a Pagan-themed Florida license plate would look like. [...]
Does that imply that Jesus weighs the same as a duck? Because we all know what that means…
He's made of wood?
I think it's amusing that even with Jesus on the plate there's still the solar disc. Nature religion wins in the end.
Ha! I drive by God's Gym too. I wonder if they're a chain, or we just live in the same area!
That's kinda gross. Don't you think they might depict a living Jesus, say, maybe, post-ressurrection?
And where are buddy's ARMS?
Jesus is a witch, burn him! *sarcasm*
Here's my personalization of that plate:
http://www.suziekidnap.com/heh/1.jpg
The ADL has been hip-deep in this issue and was responsible for getting it blocked in the Florida House.
I don't mind Jesus on my license plate. I just don't want to see him crucified.
They should leave that off the license plates. If you want to express your opinion. GET A BUMPER STICKER!
Why is it that Christ is always shown with shaved pits?
Interesting how he's got the blond hair, too.
[...] is hardly over, the state of South Carolina could try to appeal the decision, and other states, most notably Florida, are engaging in the same shenanigans. But at least a message was sent today that America [...]